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Tuesday, 8 December 2015

Review: Out of Control by T.A. Belshaw

Today, I am delighted to be taking part the blog tour for T.A. Belshaw‘s new book Out of Control. A review copy was provided in exchange for an honest review. Please keep reading to the end of my review as there is a fabulous giveaway for you to enter!

It began with a trivial moment of carelessness, but the shockwaves that reverberate from this seemingly insignificant incident, spread far and wide.

Ed and his heavily pregnant wife Mary are on an errand for Ed’s ailing father before the pair depart for warmer climes. But the winter of 1962 comes early and one innocuous event and a hastily taken decision will have devastating consequences for the family of young Rose Gorton.

Mary’s already fragile mental state is put under further stress while Ed tries to make sense of events that are spiralling massively, Out of Control.

My Thoughts:

At 78 pages this was a quick and haunting tale of the unexpected. Trevor takes us back to 1962, cool cars, full ashtrays, typing pool gossip and a pre-mobile phone age.

What starts as a simple story quickly goes “Out of Control”. Make no mistake this is a game of consequences; A moment of carelessness and one bad decision which quickly leads to another.

This book really surprised me and was very different to my normal genres. I didn’t particularly connect with the characters, nor did I really like them. Here it was the suspense and their actions rather than the petty details of their respective characters that lay central to the story.

Reminiscent of a television series previously enjoyed, the surprise ending took me back to the late seventies. The ending isn’t one I will forget in a hurry, but this is a clever story which needs be be discovered one page at a time, to say more would quiet literally spoil the storytellers tale.

I would like to say that I felt transported back in time whilst reading, but the truth is I didn’t. This story could have taken place in era and any small town where the lack of a telephone could be explained.

Recommended as a quick read for suspense fans and lovers of “Tales of the Unexpected”.

Trevor Belshaw, aka, Trevor Forest, is a writer of both adult and children's fiction. He lives in Nottingham, UK with his mad Springer Spaniel, Maisie. Trevor is the creator of Tracy’s Hot Mail (Crooked Cat Publishing,) and has recently released a noir novella, Out of Control.

Writing under the name, Trevor Forest, he has published fourteen children’s books including the Magic Molly series, The Stanley Stickle series, and Peggy Larkin's War.

Trevor’s short stories and articles have appeared in various magazines including The Best of British, Ireland’s Own and First Edition. His poem My Mistake was awarded a highly commended status and included in the Farringdon Poetry competition best entries anthology. His children’s poem Clicking Gran, was longlisted in the Plough Poetry competition 2009.

Trevor’s short stories have been published in many anthologies including the charity anthologies. 100 Stories for Haiti, 50 Stories for Pakistan, 100 Stories for Queensland, The Best of Café Lit, (2011 2012 and 2013) The Best of Friday Flash Volume 2, Another Haircut, Shambelurkling and other stories and 24 Stories for Advent.